The Starbucks of Cupcakes

You can already follow the trail of Crumbs from the tip of the island almost to the top of Central Park. But the cupcake maker could eventually become one of the city’s most ubiquitous food chains.

“How many locations does Starbucks have?” Newmark Knight Frank’s Jeff Roseman, who represents the tenant, asked The Commercial Observer rhetorically. We count 150, according to the company’s Web site, and Mr. Roseman said Crumbs could have 50-plus locations in the city.

The store, which also sells coffee and other baked goods, is looking for new locations on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side; in Chelsea around 21st Street and Sixth Avenue; in the West Village; and around Lincoln Center. A Times Square store is already in the oven.

Crumbs also plans to spread more to the outer boroughs, including Park Slope and Forest Hill in Queens. The store is looking for spaces between 1,000 and 1,500 square feet that have good foot traffic. Crumbs, founded in 2003, also recently announced it will go public through a $66 million merger with an investment company. As the country’s largest cupcake chain, it currently operates 16 stores in New York City alone.

In the past year, the company has signed leases for six new locations in New York City. They include its first Brooklyn location, a 1,200-square-foot story at 109 Montague Street, as well as a 1,500-square-foot location at Two Park Avenue. Both leases were for 15 years, and the asking rents were $150 per square foot in Brooklyn Heights and $200 per square foot on Park. Along with Mr. Roseman, Marc Frankel and Benjamin Birnbaum, also of Newmark Knight Frank, represented the tenant. “This shows,” said Mr. Roseman, “cupcakes are not just a fad.”

Meanwhile, locals are bemusedly greeting the new arrival, which sells cupcakes with as many as 780 calories each for around $4.50 a pop. “A poster is now in the window for the Crumbs Bake Shop chain,” wrote Brooklyn blog Brownstoner, “which appears to specialize in the art of cupcakery.”